Sports

• Title: WWE Crown Jewel 2021
• wiki: link

WWE returned to Saudi Arabia for the sixth straight year for its Crown Jewel PPV. A King and Queen of the Ring were crowed as Zelina Vega defeated Doudrop, in what might have been the worst woman’s PPV match of all time, and Xavier Woods defeated Finn Bálor. Since the finales were disconnected from the tournament (unlike classic King in the Ring tournaments which took place in a single night) both finales lacked the feel of a real payoff. At least the Woods/Balor match-up wasn’t an embarrassment (and should have been given more time given the “quality” of the rest of the card).

Speaking of embarrassments, a 54 year-old Goldberg defeated Bobby Lashley in a match no one outside of Stanford, Connecticut thought was a good idea. Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander (who WWE regularly forgets are under contract, let alone a tag team) lost to The Usos in a random tag-team match without any stakes.  RK-Bro successfully defended the Raw Tag Team Championship AJ Styles and Omos (a pairing that has gone about as far as it can given Omos’ limited in-ring ability).

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• Title: WWE Extreme Rules 2021
• wiki: link

Extreme Rules is one of the WWE’s gimmick PPVs created to highlight specific kinds of matches on that night. What makes the 2021 edition so perplexing is only one of the seven matches on the night’s card is actually an extreme rules match. Instead, the card is filled with relatively forgettable matches such as the opening six-man tag involving the New Day defeating Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, and Omos more fitting Raw or Smackdown.

The night is mostly memorable for some odd endings ruining the night’s two best matches. First, Charlotte Flair defeated Alexa Bliss (at one time a dream match-up for WWE fans) in a match that couldn’t ever figure out what do do with Bliss’ current witchy persona. The match would be immediately overshadowed by the extended bizarre post-match mourning by Bliss for the loss of her doll Lily which was destroyed by Flair after a rushed end to an otherwise solid, if uneven, match. Then there’s the incredibly awkward ending to the main event involving the ring malfunction allowing Roman Reigns to successfully defeat Finn Balor. While both matches had their moments, it’s hard not to look at each as missed opportunities that WWE really botched in the end.

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